Half of all Presidents elected in ’08…
By Primo Encarnación
One day into the new season, at the almost-like-New Wrigley Field, the Cardinals are in first place and my beloved Cubs are in last. So we see that you can new-up a stadium as much as you want, but it’s still the same old Cubs, and have been since their last Series championship in 1908. Roosevelt was President – the first Roosevelt! – and William Howard Taft was 3 weeks from being elected his successor. During his Presidency, Taft supposedly invented the 7th inning stretch, threw out the first Opening Day Presidential First Pitch, and attended three Cub games, where they garnered a losing 1-2 record. He skipped Opening Day 1912 because of the Titanic tragedy. Besides setting these precedents, he didn’t do much else important as President.
But there is one post-Presidential precedent he did set that I want to discuss. In 1910, he had appointed Supreme Court Justice Edward Douglass White to be Chief Justice. In 1921, that former Confederate soldier, Louisiana Senator, Southern Democrat and supporter of the Plessy decision went to his eternal reward not a moment too soon. In a fit of lucidity, Warren Harding appointed Taft to succeed the Chief Justice he himself had nominated. Taft sailed through a secret Senate confirmation, 60-4. The yeas and nays have never been made public.
Why is this important today? Well, President Hillary is going to have to appoint at least one Justice. As spry as the Notorious RBG is, not one of us can outrun Anno Domini forever. Hers is only the most likely seat to come open soon, there are others for various reasons which may as well, including Kennedy’s swing seat.
Barack Obama is a Constitutional scholar (and officer), was a lecturer on ConLaw at the prestigious University of Chicago Law School, has won the Nobel Peace Prize, has served as the most powerful man in the free world, has appointed Justices, has been a party to several Supreme Court cases, winning a few (!) and will be a relatively young 55 when he leaves office.
Although he is a White Sox fan, wouldn’t he otherwise make a fantastic choice for President Clinton II to name to the Court in an historic echo of Taft? I know there are still almost two full years left in his Presidency, but just remember… you heard it here first.